Here are a few more images from this weekend’s Buffalo Fighting Festival in Do Son. I’m happy with some of the photographs, but I’m definitely missing pieces of the entire story, like the actual fights and the final act of killing the animals. Which is a shame. Because of the crowds, I ended up spending most of my time behind the stadium, near the makeshift stables, where different teams were keeping their animals.
The disconnect between care and carnage is one of the stranger things about the festival. I would see teams and owners staying with their buffaloes, washing them down and keeping them calm while they were backstage, only to lead them, to much applause and fanfare from the crowds, straight into the fighting ring. Not even the winners survive the day. In fact, their meat is the most sought after in the end.
from swerve of shore 
Nice photo’s are you involved with The Word launch in Hanoi?
http://d2point0.wordpress.com
What great colors! 🙂
http://www.theprettyproject.com
Yes, I will be involved with The Word launch in Hanoi in November, as a part-time photo editor for the team and a pretty face to show at all the big capital gatherings.
Colourful and striking photos. But I’m not a fan of bull or buffalo fighting.
http://doctorbeatnik.wordpress.com/
These are great photos Aaron. I am in Vietnam right now and I was reading about these festivals and how villages saved up a lot of money to buy a buffalo to take part in these events. It seems amazing seeing as they have so very little money for themselves in the end. A great blog!
Must be thrilling!
Good luck keeping the PETA at bay.
wow! they say “IT IS NOT NECESSARY TO SEE A KILLED COW BEFORE EATING HAMBURGER”. that meat looks not very pleasant, i must admit.
great great colors. loved the bull
Why Why did u kill the bull!
http://s8529226.wordpress.com
The photos are beautiful (except the one of the bloody meat, but I’m a vegetarian so that’s my opinion) I had never heard of this festival before now…Are the animals well taken care of prior to this day? Is this similar to bullfighting? So many questions now.
really like the costume
[…] above and many other beautiful photos by Aaron Joel Santos, a fellow WordPress blogger, are of the Buffalo Fighting Festival in Do Son, Vietnam. On his blog, ‘from swerve of shore‘, he says that this annual festival is packed with […]
Good work AAron,
My parents who used to lived in North Vietnam never told me about buffalo meat, the buffalo was highly regarded as a farming companion, not as a livestock. Traditions are quite different over there.
I think it is fairly common here. I personally much prefer beef, as I find buffalo meat to be a bit tough.